Display and other cases and method of making



' Sept. 6, 1966 p HATFIELD ET AL 3,271,092

DISPLAY AND OTHER CASES AND METHOD OF. MAKING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 13, 1965 //V VE/V TORS ThomusPHorfield 52 James E.Squyres by 751. s

/4 A TTORNEYS Sept. 6, 1966 HATFIELD ET AL 3,271,092 I DISPLAY AND OTHER CASES AND METHOD OF MAKING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 13, 1963 Thomas PHohield 4 James E.Squyres y 529') and WflM ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,271,092 DISPLAY AND OTHER CASES AND METHOD OF MAKING Thomas Pierson Hatfield, 705 Zimmerman St., and James Earl Squyres, 1112 N. Main, both of Homer, La. Filed Aug. 13, 1963, Ser. No. 301,855 1 Claim. (Cl. 312-311) The present invention relates to improvements in display and other cases and especially to portable cases for small articles such as coin collections, jewelry, etc., although not limited thereto. Also, the invention involves a novel method of making the case.

Briefly and generally stated, the invention aims to provide a preferably portable carrying case for the purposes specified which includes a plurality of removable trays; is of simple, durable construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and highly efficient in practical use.

The invention also contemplates a novel closure for cases of this kind which enables any one of a series of easing carried trays to be readily shifted to a display position, or removed; and which closure will maintain a set position upon one wall of the case when it has been opened.

Another object of the invention is to provide closure carried means for maintaining the ends of the trays adjacent the casing opening spaced from the closure defined front wall of the case when the closure is closed so as to admit of ready operation of closure locking means while maintaining the trays against shifting movement toward or from the casing opening.

Still another object involves a novel method of manufacture which, among other things, reduces production costs and assures of the provision of a properly fitting casing closure.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be readily understood and appreciated upon inspection of the accompanying drawing in connection with the related descriptive matter.

It is to be understood that the drawings illustrate the now preferred form of the invention but since the latter is susceptible of other mechanical expressions within the spirit and scope of the subject matter hereinafter, the selected illustration is to be taken as purely illustrative rather than limitative.

In the drawings, wherein the same reference characters have been used to designate the same parts throughout the several views- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a coin or jewelry carrying display case embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view with the closure of the case in its open position and with the several display trays pulled outwardly step fashion;

FIG. '3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the casing partly broken and partly in section, the closure lock being illustrated in its operative position and only one of the several trays being illustrated;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a group perspective view partly broken and partly in sections and showing a lift ring for the, preferably transparent, top plate of one of the trays, the said plate being fragmentarily shown; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

Referring to the drawings by reference characters, numeral 10 designates the open ended case, per se, same having top and bottom walls 12, '14, respectively, side walls 16, and a rear wall 17, the open front casing end being indicated at 18 in FIG. 2.

A closure 20 for the open front end 18 of casing 10 3,271,092 Patented Sept. 6, 1966 is provided; and it is preferably hinged (28) to the top casing wall 12, as will be dealt with in detail hereinafter.

The closure-incorporating carrying case is made by a novel method which involves, among other things, initially making same as an integral unit.

Thus prefabricated, and preferably wooden, walls of appropraite length, width and thickness are assembled to provide a completely closed case. Meeting portions of these walls are glued or otherwise secured together to provide a closed and functionally integral structure. Then the case, adjacent what is ultimately to be its open forward end 18, is sawed in two along about a fifteen degree transverse line to provide said end closure 20. Further details of the novel manufacturing method will be described later on herein.

End closure 20 has the top wall 22, bottom wall 24, front wall 27 and side walls 26. As will be evident, the closure 20 when in its operative FIG. 1 position, will have the rear edge 22a of its top wall 22 exactly parallel with the forward edge 12a of the top wall '12 of the casing proper; and the same will be true as to the respective opposed side wall and bottom wall edges of the easing 10 and closure 20. See, for instance, side wall edges 16a, 26a (FIG. 1) of the casing 10 and closure 20, respectively.

In carrying out the invention, the top wall edges 12a, 22a of the casing 10 and closure 20 are connected by the aforementioned hinge 28 having the pintle 28c and leaves 28a, 28b, which latter are secured to said edges, 12a, 22a by screws (not shown) which extend through leaf holes 30. Of course, edges 12a, 2211, will be cut away to the extent of the thickness of hinge leaves 28a, 28b so that other opposed wall edges of the casing 10 and closure 20 will lie flush with one another.

The closure 20 is retained against accidental opening movement by a familiar type of two part thumb catch 32 carried by the respective side walls 16, 26, as indicated in FIG. 3. Catches 32 comprise the base mem- 'bers 3-4, =36, which are secured as at '38 to the respective side walls 16, 26 of the casing and closure 10, 20. A swingable latch element 36a is adapted to engage a lug element 34a as usual in such as suitcases, and other luggage, to retain closure 20 closed as in FIGS. 1 and 3.

However, for locking purposes to prevent unauthorized access to the contents of the case 10, I .provide the key operated lock 40 which is carried by the front wall 27 of the closure 20 and as shown in FIG. 3. Look 40 has the rotatable barrel 41 which carries the lock element 42 that is adapted to engage through the slot 43 of plate 44 which is secured to the bottom wall 14 of the casing 10 by screws 45 or the like. Bottom wall 14 also preferably has a recess (not shown) into which lock element 42 also engages.

FIG. 1 shows the case 10 as having the carrying handle 46 secured to its top wall 12. Carrying handle 46 may take any preferred form.

As herein illustrated, the case 10 is a display tray (52) incorporating case. A plurality of display trays 52, of equal size, are employed for coins or items of jewelry and each tray 52 will preferably have in it a predetermined number of coin or jewelry item holders of open topped box form. A convenient size for such holders is 2" x 2" and trays 52 as herein illustrated will accommodate forty of said holders.

Although any number of trays 52 may be incorporated in a tray carrying case, the carrying case 10, 20 chosen for illustration herein shows, 'as indicated in FIG. 2, eight trays. These trays 5-2 are pullable forwardly through the open front wall 18 of the case 10 when the closure 20 has been opened and is resting in upright position on the top wall 12 of the case 10, as indicated in FIG. 2.

Trays 52 are slidably supported by vertically spaced plastic or other preferably slick surfaced strips 50 which project inwardly from inner surface grooves 48 of the casing side walls 16. Any preferred adhesive can be employed to secure strips 50 in grooves 48 f 16, 16.

It should here be noted that prior to initial assembly of the case and closure-providing side walls and the severing of closure 20 from the ultimate case 10, the inner surfaces of the said side walls are horizontally grooved 48) from end to end. So FIG. 3 shows grooves 48 in side walls -26 of closure 20. However, the tray ('52) supporting strips 50 are received in only the casing (10) provided side wall grooves 48; and are preferably inserted into the open ends of the latter after severance of closure 20 from the ultimate open ended casing 10. This is a great manufacturing time saver as is also the assembly of locking elements 40, 4'4 with related wall elements prior to the initial aforementioned wall element assembly to provide an integral fully closed case with no separate closure such as 20.

Referring now to the trays 52, per se, each embodies a frame 54 having suitably joined front, side and rear sections of identical cross-section as seen in FIG. 3. Thus, referring to FIG. 3, each tray frame 54 has spaced below its top surface, the vertically spaced and inwardly extending flanges 54a, 54b. These vertically spaced flanges 54a, 54b provide the groove 56 which receives the edges of the bottom wall 58 of the tray. The spacing of the top flange 54a below the top surface of frame '54 substantially equals the thickness of removable glass, or other transparent plate 60, which rests on said top flange 54a, as indicated in FIG. 3. So the top surfaces of the respective (and preferably transparent) plates 60 will normally lie flush with the top surface of the related frame 54.

To enable the plate 60 to be conveniently lifted upwardly from its seated position on frame flange 54a, so as to afford access to the tray contents, I provide one or more lift rings 62 as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 5. These lift rings 62 will ordinarily lie flat on the surface of the glass, or other, plate 60; and they are carried by the bight portion of a cotter pin 64 whose spreadable ends extend through holes 66 in glass plate 60 and then spread outwardly, as indicated at 64a in FIG. 5.

In order to admit of free operation of the lock element 42 of FIG. 3 and at the same time prevent objectional shifting of trays 52 when case 10 is being carried by handle 46, the length of the trays -2 is made slightly less than the interior length of the casing-provided chamber when the closure 20 is closed; and interior closurecarried tray end buffers 68 are provided. These tray end-engaging buffers 68, of soft rubber or the like, are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 as interior cleats extending vertically adjacent opposite interior sides of front closure wall 27. These cleats 68 engage the front ends of the trays '52 and space them rearwardly of the plane of the locking finger 42 of the lock 40.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed is:

A portable display case which is open at its front end and provides top, bottom and rear walls, and parallel side walls which latter and the rear wall are perpendicular to said bottom wall; a closure for the open front end of said casing, said closure providing top and side walls as continuations of corresponding casing walls and an end wall which latter provides the casing front and parallels the casing rear wall when the closure is closed; hinge means connecting the top walls of the casing and closure whereby the latter, when opened, will seat upon the top wall of the casing; a plurality of display trays in said casing and insertable thereinto from the open casing end when the closure is opened, said trays being of uniform length and width, with the length of each slightly less than the interior length of the casing when the closure is closed, so that the front ends of said trays can be spaced from the closure end wall at the casing front, there being a casing side wall-provided supporting means for the respective trays, a lock means for retaining the closure closed, and comprising a rotatable member extending through the closure end wall and having operating means adjacent the outer surface of the latter, the inner end of said rotatable member within the casing having a right angularly disposed arm, a seat provided by the bottom casing wall into which the free end of said arm is movable to prevent opening movement of the closure, and the inner surface of the closure end Wall having secured thereto at each opposite side of said lock means a compressible strip, each strip being disposed in opposition to the front ends of said trays, the thickness of said compressible strips being such as to force the rear tray ends against the rear casing wall whereby to prevent tray shifting in transit, the outer rearwardly disposed surfaces of said strips disposed rearwardly of the plane of arm and seat whereby to admit of free movement of said arm to lockingly engage its seat to lock the closure against opening movement.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 603,667 5/1898 Tate 312-290 X 701,000 5/1902 Ahrens 312-350 821,350 5/1906 Ferris 312-293 887,602 5/1908 Dorey 312-9 927,625 7/1909 Woldridge 312-126 1,121,699 12/1914 Welham 312-350 1,137,269 4/ 1915 Kormanshaus 93-36 1,477,056 12/1923 Hager 312-311 2,017,331 10/1935 Walker 93-36 2,129,923 9/193 8 Frankel 312-319 X 2,215,881 9/ 1940 Levensten 312-311 2,223,770 12/1940 Nagle 93-36 2,526,887 10/1950 Mack 312-311 2,692,813 10/ 1954 Toronto 312-319 2,739,863 3/ 1956 Ferris 312-223 X FOREIGN PATENTS 531,634 9/1954 Belgium. 285,289 2/ 1928 Great Britain.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

O CI-LANCELLOR E. HARRIS, FRANK B. SHERRY, 

